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A vision-based measurement (VBM) of dust concentration with high accuracy can be used to analyze dust pollution and reveal the distribution law of dust concentration in a production workshop. In conventional VBM, grayscale and morphological features of a dust image are commonly used. However, their measurement accuracy is limited by the atmospheric light scattering effect of surrounding light and the occlusion effect of dust particles. Thus, a high accuracy VBM system is investigated that is based on the relationship between dust concentration and image transmission (RCT) model. Meanwhile, a calculation method for image transmission that utilizes the atmospheric light scattering effect and the occlusion effect of dust particles is proposed in this paper. The experimental results show that in the proposed system, the relative error is ±3.0%, the relative uncertainty is 2.05%, the correlation is 0.99, the measurement range is 0.5–1000 mg/m3, and the measurement period is 2 s. The RCT tends to be a negative correlation, which is a quadratic polynomial. The impact of the atmospheric light scattering effect and the occlusion effect of dust particles on measurement accuracy can be eliminated by utilizing image transmission. The proposed system can be used as an alternative measurement of dust concentration in the workshop.

Background TP53 is one of the most frequently mutated genes among all cancer types, and TP53 mutants occur more than 60% in colorectal cancer (CRC). Among all mutants, there are three hot spots, including p53-R175H, p53-R248W and p53-R273H. Emerging evidence attributes cancer carcinogenesis to cancer stem cells (CSCs). Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in maintaining the stemness of CSCs. However, it is unknown if mutant p53-regulated lncRNAs are implicated in the maintenance of CSC stemness. Methods RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and ChIP-sequencing (ChIP-seq) were used to trace the lncRNA network regulated by p53-R273H in HCT116 endogenous p53 point mutant spheroid cells generated by the somatic cell knock-in method. RT-qPCR was used to detect lncRNA expression patterns, verifying the bioinformatics analysis. Transwell, spheroid formation, fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS), xenograft nude mouse model, tumor frequency assessed by extreme limiting dilution analysis (ELDA), Western blot assays and chemoresistance analysis were performed to elucidate the functions and possible mechanism of lnc273–31 and lnc273–34 in cancer stem cells. Results p53-R273H exhibited more characteristics of CSC than p53-R175H and p53-R248W. RNA-seq profiling identified 37 up regulated and 4 down regulated differentially expressed lncRNAs regulated by p53-R273H. Combined with ChIP-seq profiling, we further verified two lncRNAs, named as lnc273–31 and lnc273–34, were essential in the maintenance of CSC stemness. Further investigation illustrated that lnc273–31 or lnc273–34 depletion dramatically diminished colorectal cancer migration, invasion, cancer stem cell self-renewal and chemoresistance in vitro. Moreover, the absence of lnc273–31 or lnc273–34 dramatically delayed cancer initiation and tumorigenic cell frequency in vivo. Also, lnc273–31 and lnc273–34 have an impact on epithelial-to mesenchymal transition (EMT). Finally, lnc273–31 and lnc273–34 were significantly highly expressed in CRC tissues with p53-R273H mutation compared to those with wildtype p53. Conclusions The present study unveiled a high-confidence set of lncRNAs regulated by p53-R273H specific in colorectal CSCs. Furthermore, we demonstrated that two of them, lnc273–31 and lnc273–34, were required for colorectal CSC self-renewal, tumor propagation and chemoresistance. Also, the expression of these two lncRNAs augmented in colorectal cancer patient samples with p53-R273H mutation. These two lncRNAs may serve as promising predictors for patients with p53-R273H mutation and are vital for chemotherapy. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-019-1375-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Façade pressure coefficients are widely used to determine wind-driven ventilation potential for buildings at the design stage. Over nine months we measured façade pressure coefficients under full-scale conditions using the 6 m Silsoe cube in isolation and in a staggered array. Results are compared against a 1:300 wind-tunnel model, a time-dependent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model at full-scale and to published pressure coefficients in ventilation design guidance for a range of wind angles.\ud \ud Across all wind angles, wind-tunnel, CFD and published models tended to underestimate full-scale experimental pressure coefficients in magnitude but replicated trends well for a single face on the isolated cube. Agreement was weaker for the array; pressure coefficients are asymmetric with wind direction and results sensitive to model set up and measurement strategies. Differences in pressure coefficient across the building compared well in both isolated and array cases, suggesting this is a more robust parameter for models than individual facet data.\ud \ud It is recommended that building symmetry and surrounding areas should be considered when relying on ventilation guidelines. Scale and computational models are effective to support design for more complex cases; however, it is important to ensure measurement locations are representative and that uncertainties are quantified.

It is currently believed that aging is closely linked with mitochondrial dysfunction, and that resveratrol exhibits anti-aging and neuroprotective effects by improving mitochondrial function, even though the mechanisms are not well defined. This study explored mitochondrial quality (mitochondrial DNA integrity and copy number), mitochondrial function (fusion/fission, mitophagy/autophagy), antioxidant system and activity of the Akt/mTOR and Ampk/Sirt1/Pgc1α pathways, and inflammation in aging zebrafish retinas to identify the probable mechanisms of resveratrol's anti-aging and neuroprotective effects. mtDNA integrity, mtDNA copy number, mitochondrial fusion regulators, mitophagy, and antioxidant-related genes were all decreased whereas Akt/mTOR activity and inflammation was increased upon aging in zebrafish retinas. Resveratrol was shown to not only increase mitochondrial quality and function, but also to suppress Akt/mTOR activity in zebrafish retinas. These results support the notion that mitochondrial dysfunction and increased Akt/mTOR activity are major players in age-related retinal neuropathy in zebrafish, and demonstrate a trend towards mitochondrial fragmentation in the aging retina. Importantly, resveratrol promoted mitochondrial function, up-regulating Ampk/Sirt1/Pgc1α, and down-regulated Akt/mTOR pathway activity in zebrafish retinas, suggesting that it may be able to prevent age-related oculopathy.

Many cities are suffering the effects of urban heat islands (UHI) or urban cool islands (UCI) due to rapid urban expansion and numerous infrastructure developments. This paper presents a lumped urban-building thermal coupling model which captures the fundamental physical mechanism for thermal interactions between buildings and their urban environment. The benefits of the model are its simplicity and high computational efficiency for practical use in investigating the diurnal urban air temperature change and its asymmetry in a city with both naturally-ventilated (NV) and air-conditioned (AC) buildings. Our model predicts a lower urban heat island and higher urban cool island intensity in a city with naturally-ventilated buildings than for a city with air-conditioned buildings. During the urban densification (from a low-rise, low-density city to a high-rise, high-density one), the increases in the time constant and internal heat gain give rise to asymmetric warming phenomena, which become more obvious in a city with air-conditioned buildings rather than naturally-ventilated ones. Unlike previous studies, we found that a low-rise, low-density city experiences a stronger urban cool island effect than a high-rise, high-density city due to less heat being emitted into the urban atmosphere. The urban cool/heat island effect will firstly increase/decrease, and then rapidly decrease/increase and ultimately disappear/dominate with increasing time constant in the process of urbanization/urban densification.

This paper aims to analyse the thermal characteristics of a novel system of Capillary Tubes embedded in a Phase Change Material (CT-PCM) as part of active building environmental design for energy conservation and the improvement of indoor thermal environment. The CT-PCM system is proposed based on the concept that low-grade energy utilisation potential could be harnessed and maximised by buildings’ radiant heating/cooling systems and phase change material. The CT-PCM component is first built in the laboratory, and the thermal characteristics of the CT-PCM are investigated through a set of thermal response experiments. In addition, a simplified model is developed to assess the long-term thermal performance of the CT-PCM system for its application during a strategical system design stage. To ensure the robustness of the numerical model in the assessment of the thermal performance of the system, the developed model is evaluated against the experiments under a set of dynamic thermal boundary conditions. The evaluation process revealed that when the flow rate of thermal fluids in the CT-PCM system is more than 800 ml/min, the simulation results of the proposed simplified model is in a good agreement with the experiment. When the flow rate in the capillary tube is smaller than 800 ml/min, the correction factors are derived to address the non-uniformity of temperature distribution.

The influencing mechanism of droplet transmissions inside crowded and poorly ventilated buses on infection risks of respiratory diseases is still unclear. Based on experiments of one-infecting-seven COVID-19 outbreak with an index patient at bus rear, we conducted CFD simulations to investigate integrated effects of initial droplet diameters(tracer gas, 5 μm, 50 μm and 100 μm), natural air change rates per hour(

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a nationwide lockdown was imposed in the United Kingdom (UK) on March 23, 2020. These sudden control measures led to radical changes in human activities in the Greater London Area (GLA). During this lockdown, transportation use was significantly reduced and non-key workers were required to work from home. This study aims to understand how population exposure to PM2.5 and NO2 changed spatially and temporally across London, in different microenvironments, following the lockdown period relative to the previous three-year average in the same calendar period. Our research shows that population exposure to NO2 declined significantly (52.3% ± 6.1%), while population exposure to PM2.5 showed a smaller relative reduction (15.7% ± 4.1%). Changes in population activity had the strongest relative influence on exposure levels during morning rush hours, when prior to the lockdown a large percentage of people would normally commute or be at the workplace. In particular, a very high exposure decrease was observed for both pollutants (approximately 66% for NO2 and 19% for PM2.5) at 08:00am, consistent with the radical changes in population commuting. The infiltration of outdoor air pollution into housing modifies the degree of exposure change both temporally and spatially. Moreover, this study shows that the impacts on air pollution exposure vary across groups with different socioeconomic status (SES), with a disproportionate positive effect on the areas of the city home to more economically deprived communities. acceptedVersion

BACKGROUND Acute muscle injuries are one of the most common injuries in sports. Severely injured muscles are prone to re-injury due to fibrotic scar formation caused by prolonged inflammation. How to regulate inflammation and suppress fibrosis is the focus of promoting muscle healing. Recent studies have found that myoblasts and macrophages play important roles in the inflammatory phase following muscle injury; however, the crosstalk between these two types of cells in the inflammatory environment, particularly the exosome-related mechanisms, had not been well studied. AIM To evaluate the effects of exosomes from inflammatory C2C12 myoblasts (IF-C2C12-Exos) on macrophage polarization and myoblast proliferation/differentiation. METHODS A model of inflammation was established in vitro by lipopolysaccharide stimulation of myoblasts. C2C12-Exos were isolated and purified from the supernatant of myoblasts by gradient centrifugation. Multiple methods were used to identify the exosomes. Gradient concentrations of IF-C2C12-Exos were added to normal macrophages and myoblasts. PKH67 fluorescence tracing was used to identify the interaction between exosomes and cells. Microscopic morphology, Giemsa stain, and immunofluorescence were carried out for histological analysis. Additionally, ELISA assays, flow cytometry, and western blot were conducted to analyze molecular changes. Moreover, myogenic proliferation was assessed by the BrdU test, scratch assay, and CCK-8 assay. RESULTS We found that the PKH-67-marked C2C12-Exos can be endocytosed by both macrophages and myoblasts. IF-C2C12-Exos induced M1 macrophage polarization and suppressed the M2 phenotype in vitro. In addition, these exosomes also stimulated the inflammatory reactions of macrophages. Furthermore, we demonstrated that IF-C2C12-Exos disrupted the balance of myoblast proliferation/differentiation, leading to enhanced proliferation and suppressed fibrogenic/myogenic differentiation. CONCLUSION IF-C2C12-Exos can induce M1 polarization, resulting in a sustained and aggravated inflammatory environment that impairs myoblast differentiation, and leads to enhanced myogenic proliferation. These results demonstrate why prolonged inflammation occurs after acute muscle injury and provide a new target for the regulation of muscle regeneration.

Plant roots in soil host a repertoire of bacteria and fungi, whose ecological interactions could improve their functions and plant performance. However, the potential microbial interactions and underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown across the soil-mangrove root interface. We herein analyzed microbial intra- and inter-domain network topologies, keystone taxa, and interaction-related genes across four compartments (non-rhizosphere, rhizosphere, episphere, and endosphere) from a soil-mangrove root continuum, using amplicon and metagenome sequencing technologies. We found that both intra- and inter-domain networks displayed notable differences in the structure and topology across four compartments. Compared to three peripheral compartments, the endosphere was a distinctive compartment harboring more dense co-occurrences with a higher average connectivity in bacterial-fungal network (2.986) than in bacterial (2.628) or fungal network (2.419), which could be related to three bacterial keystone taxa (Vibrio, Anaerolineae, and Desulfarculaceae) detected in the endosphere as they are known to intensify inter-domain associations with fungi and stimulate biofilm formation. In support of this finding, we also found that the genes involved in cell-cell communications by quorum sensing (rhlI, lasI, pqsH, and lasR) and aerobic cobamide biosynthesis (cobG, cobF, and cobA) were highly enriched in the endosphere, whereas anaerobic cobamide biosynthesis (encoded by cbiT and cbiE) was dominant in three peripheral compartments. Our results provide genetic evidence for the intensified bacterial-fungal associations of root endophytes, highlighting the critical role of the soil-root interface in structuring the microbial inter-domain associations.

Many studies investigated the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on urban air quality, but their adopted approaches have varied and there is no consensus as to which approach should be used. In this paper we compare three of the main approaches and assess their performance using both estimated and measured data from several air quality monitoring stations (AQMS) in Reading, Berkshire UK. The approaches are: (1) Sequential approach - comparing pre-lockdown and lockdown periods 2020; (2) Parallel approach - comparing 2019 and 2020 for the equivalent time of the lockdown period; and (3) Machine learning modelling approach - predicting pollution levels for the lockdown period using business as usual (BAU) scenario and comparing with the observations. The parallel and machine learning approaches resulted in relative higher reductions and both showed strong correlation (0.97) and less error with each other. The sequential approach showed less reduction in NO and NOx, showed positive gain in PM10 and NO2 at most of the sites and demonstrated weak correlation with the other two approaches, and is not recommended for such analysis. Overall, the sequential approach showed -14, +4, -32, and +56 % change, the parallel approach showed -46, -43, -43 and +7 % change, and the machine learning approach showed -47, -44, -38 and +5 % change in NOx, NO2, NO and PM10 concentrations, respectively. The pollution roses demonstrated that the UK received easterly polluted winds from the central and eastern Europe, promoting secondary particulates and O3 formation during the lockdown. Changes in pollutant concentrations vary both in space and time according to the approach used, environment type of the monitoring site and the data type (e.g., deweathered vs. raw data). Therefore, the reported results (here or elsewhere) should be viewed in light of these factors before making any conclusion.

Vascular aging has been closely associated with various cardiovascular disorders; however, its molecular mechanism remains poorly understood. In our study, RNA sequencing was utilized to explore the expression profiles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and mRNAs in the thoracic aortas of young (3 weeks) and old (16 weeks) rats. Functional categorization of differentially expressed mRNAs was evaluated using the Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes databases, and lncRNA–microRNA–mRNA networks was constructed using Cytoscape software. In addition, three upregulated and three downregulated lncRNAs were further confirmed by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. A total of 36 lncRNAs and 922 mRNAs were differential expression in the thoracic aortas of young and older rats. In addition, we found differentially expressed mRNAs that were enriched in multiple biological processes and signaling pathways associated with angiogenesis, such as extracellular matrix–receptor interaction and adenosine 3ʹ,5ʹ-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling. Moreover, AABR07013558.1, AABR07014823.1, and AABR07031489.1 were upregulated and ABR07053849.3, AABR07067310.2, and AC111292.1 were downregulated in the thoracic aortas of older rats compared with the young ones. Therefore, our findings provide several potential lncRNAs and mRNAs and signaling pathways related to vascular aging, which provide new clue for underlying the improvement of vascular aging., Graphical Abstract

Background: Nitrogen-fixing microorganisms (diazotrophs) provide biological available nitrogen and play a pivotal role in nitrogen cycling of mangrove sediments. However, most studies on diazotrophs have been restricted to easily accessible surface sediments, while the diversity, structure and ecological function of diazotrophic communities at the in-depth profile of mangrove sediments are largely unknown. Here, we investigated how biological nitrogen fixation vary with depth of mangrove sediments from the perspective of both NFR and diazotrophic communities.Results: Through acetylene reduction assay, nifH gene amplicon and metagenomic sequencing, we found that the nitrogen fixation rate (NFR) increased but the diversity of diazotrophic community decreased with the depth of mangrove sediments. The structure of diazotrophic communities at different depths was largely driven by salinity, and exhibited a clear divergence at the partition depth of 50 cm. Agrobacterium and Azotobacter were specifically enriched at 50-100 cm sediments, while aerobic diazotrophs such as Methylomonas had a higher abundance at 0-30 cm. Consistent with the higher NFR, metagenomic analysis indicated the elevated abundance of nitrogen fixation genes (nifH/D/K) in deeper sediment layers, where nitrification genes (amoA/B/C) and denitrification genes (nirK and norB) became less abundant. Three metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) of diazotrophs from deep mangrove sediments indicated their facultative anaerobic and amphitrophic lifestyles as they contained genes for low-oxygen-dependent metabolism, hydrogenotrophic respiration, carbon fixation and pyruvate fermentation.Conclusions: Together, this study determines the depth-related variability of NFR and diazotrophs, which potentially contribute to nitrogen sinks and relieve nitrogen limitation, especially in the deep sediments of mangrove ecosystems.

Background: Plant roots host a repertoire of bacteria and fungi, whose ecological interactions could improve their functions and plant performance. However, potential interactions and underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown in root-associated microbial communities at a continuous fine-scale. Results: We analyzed microbial intra- and inter-domain network topologies, keystone taxa, and interaction-related genes across four compartments (non-rhizosphere, rhizosphere, episphere and endosphere) from a soil-mangrove root continuum, using amplicon and metagenome sequencing technologies. We found that both intra- and inter-domain networks displayed notable differences in the structure and topology across four compartments. Compared to three peripheral compartments, the endosphere was a distinctive compartment with more intensive interactions in bacterial-fungal network than in bacterial or fungal network, which could be related to three bacterial keystone taxa (Vibrio, Anaerolineae and Desulfarculaceae) detected in the endosphere as they are known to intensify inter-domain interactions with fungi and stimulate biofilm formation. Also, high abundances of genes involved in cell-cell communications by quorum sensing (rhlI, lasI, pqsH and lasR) and aerobic cobamide biosynthesis (cobG, cobF and cobA) were detected in the endosphere.Conclusions: Our results reveal intensified inter-domain interactions of endophytes in the mangrove roots, creating a distinct micro-environment to promote a biofilm life-style.

Virus-laden droplets dispersion may induce transmissions of respiratory infectious diseases. Existing research mainly focuses on indoor droplet dispersion, but the mechanism of its dispersion and exposure in outdoor environment is unclear. By conducting CFD simulations, this paper investigates the evaporation and transport of solid-liquid droplets in an open outdoor environment. Droplet initial sizes (dp=10m, 50m, 100m), background relative humidity (RH=35%, 95%), background wind speed (Uref=3m/s, 0.2m/s) and social distances between two people (D=0.5m, 1m, 1.5m, 3m, 5m) are investigated. Results show that thermal body plume is destroyed when the background wind speed is 3m/s (Froude number Fr~10). The inhalation fraction (IF) of susceptible person decreases exponentially when the social distance (D) increases from 0.5m to 5m. The exponential decay rate of inhalation fraction (b) ranges between 0.93 and 1.06 (IF=IF0e-b(D-0.5)) determined by the droplet initial diameter and relative humidity. Under weak background wind (Uref=0.2m/s, Fr~0.01), the upward thermal body plume significantly influences droplet dispersion, which is similar with that in indoor space. Droplets in the initial sizes of 10m and 50m disperse upwards while most of 100m droplets fall down to the ground due to large gravity force. Interestingly, the deposition fraction on susceptible person is ten times higher at Uref=3m/s than that at Uref=0.2m/s. Thus, a high outdoor wind speed does not necessarily lead to a smaller exposure risk if the susceptible person locating at the downwind region of the infected person, and people in outdoors are suggested to not only keep distance of greater than 1.5m from each other but also stand with considerable angles from the prevailing wind direction.

Introduction. Regeneration of fibrochondrocytes is essential for the healing of the tendon-bone interface (TBI), which is similar to the formation of neurogenic heterotopic ossification (HO). Through single-cell integrative analysis, this study explored the homogeneity of HO cells and fibrochondrocytes. Methods. This study integrated six datasets, namely, GSE94683, GSE144306, GSE168153, GSE138515, GSE102929, and GSE110993. The differentiation trajectory and key transcription factors (TFs) for HO occurrence were systematically analyzed by integrating single-cell RNA (scRNA) sequencing, bulk RNA sequencing, and assay of transposase accessible chromatin seq. The differential expression and enrichment pathways of TFs in heterotopically ossified tissues were identified. Results. HO that mimicked pathological cells was classified into HO1 and HO2 cell subsets. Results of the pseudo-temporal sequence analysis suggested that HO2 is a differentiated precursor cell of HO1. The analysis of integrated scRNA data revealed that ectopically ossified cells have similar transcriptional characteristics to cells in the fibrocartilaginous zone of tendons. The modified SCENIC method was used to identify specific transcriptional regulators associated with ectopic ossification. Xbp1 was defined as a common key transcriptional regulator of ectopically ossified tissues and the fibrocartilaginous zone of tendons. Subsequently, the CellPhoneDB database was completed for the cellular ligand-receptor analysis. With further pathway screening, this study is the first to propose that Xbp1 may upregulate the Notch signaling pathway through Jag1 transcription. Twenty-four microRNAs were screened and were found to be potentially associated with upregulation of XBP1 expression after acute ischemic stroke. Conclusion. A systematic analysis of the differentiation landscape and cellular homogeneity facilitated a molecular understanding of the phenotypic similarities between cells in the fibrocartilaginous region of tendon and HO cells. Furthermore, by identifying Xbp1 as a hub regulator and by conducting a ligand–receptor analysis, we propose a potential Xbp1/Jag1/Notch signaling pathway.

Background: Post-surgical recurrence of the metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) remains a challenge, even with adjuvant therapy. Moreover, patients show variable outcomes. Here, we set to identify gene models based on the perspectives of intrinsic cell activities and extrinsic immune microenvironment to predict the recurrence of mCRC and guide the adjuvant therapy.Methods: An RNA-based gene expression analysis of CRC samples (total = 998, including mCRCs = 344, non-mCRCs = 654) was performed. A metastasis-evaluation model (MEM) for mCRCs was developed using the Cox survival model based on the prognostic differentially expressed genes between mCRCs and non-mCRCs. This model separated the mCRC samples into high- and low-recurrence risk clusters that were tested using machine learning to predict recurrence. Further, an immune prognostic model (IPM) was built using the COX survival model with the prognostic differentially expressed immune-related genes between the two MEM risk clusters. The ability of MEM and IPM to predict prognosis was analyzed and validated. Moreover, the IPM was utilized to evaluate its relationship with the immune microenvironment and response to immuno-/chemotherapy. Finally, the dysregulation cause of IPM three genes was analyzed in bioinformatics.Results: A high post-operative recurrence risk was observed owing to the downregulation of the immune response, which was influenced by MEM genes (BAMBI, F13A1, LCN2) and their related IPM genes (SLIT2, CDKN2A, CLU). The MEM and IPM were developed and validated through mCRC samples to differentiate between low- and high-recurrence risk in a real-world cohort. The functional enrichment analysis suggested pathways related to immune response and immune system diseases as the major functional pathways related to the IPM genes. The IPM high-risk group (IPM-high) showed higher fractions of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and smaller fractions of resting memory CD4+ T cells than the IPM-low group. Moreover, the stroma and immune cells in the IPM-high samples were scant. Further, the IPM-high group showed downregulation of MHC class II molecules. Additionally, the Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE) algorithm and GDSC analysis suggested the IPM-low as a promising responder to anti-CTLA-4 therapy and the common FDA-targeted drugs, while the IPM-high was non-responsive to these treatments. However, treatment using anti-CDKN2A agents, along with the activation of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class-II response might sensitize this refractory mCRC subgroup. The dysfunction of MEIS1 might be the reason for the dysregulation of IPM genes.Conclusions: The IPM could identify subgroups of mCRC with a distinct risk of recurrence and stratify the patients sensitive to immuno-/chemotherapy. Further, for the first time, our study highlights the importance of MHC class-II molecules in the treatment of mCRCs using immunotherapy.

Background Nitrogen-fixing prokaryotes (diazotrophs) contribute substantially to nitrogen input in mangrove sediments, and their structure and nitrogen fixation rate (NFR) are significantly controlled by environmental conditions. Despite the well-known studies on diazotrophs in surficial sediments, the diversity, structure, and ecological functions of diazotrophic communities along environmental gradients of mangrove sediment across different depths are largely unknown. Here, we investigated how biological nitrogen fixation varied with the depth of mangrove sediments from the perspectives of both NFR and diazotrophic communities. Results Through acetylene reduction assay, nifH gene amplicon and metagenomic sequencing, we found that the NFR increased but the diversity of diazotrophic communities decreased with the depth of mangrove sediments. The structure of diazotrophic communities at different depths was largely driven by salinity and exhibited a clear divergence at the partitioning depth of 50 cm. Among diazotrophic genera correlated with NFR, Agrobacterium and Azotobacter were specifically enriched at 50–100 cm sediments, while Anaeromyxobacter, Rubrivivax, Methylocystis, Dickeya, and Methylomonas were more abundant at 0–50 cm. Consistent with the higher NFR, metagenomic analysis demonstrated the elevated abundance of nitrogen fixation genes (nifH/D/K) in deep sediments, where nitrification genes (amoA/B/C) and denitrification genes (nirK and norB) became less abundant. Three metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) of diazotrophs from deep mangrove sediments indicated their facultatively anaerobic and mixotrophic lifestyles as they contained genes for low-oxygen-dependent metabolism, hydrogenotrophic respiration, carbon fixation, and pyruvate fermentation. Conclusions This study demonstrates the depth-dependent variability of biological nitrogen fixation in terms of NFR and diazotrophic communities, which to a certain extent relieves the degree of nitrogen limitation in deep mangrove sediments., Microbiome, 9 (1), ISSN:2049-2618

Background Lymph node dissection (LND) is considered to improve the prognosis of patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Although the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines recommend routine LND in ICC, the role of LND remains controversial. This study aimed to explore the effect of LND on the prognosis of patients with ICC from two Chinese centers.MethodsPatients were identified in two Chinese academic centers. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to reduce bias. Kaplan–Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards models were used to compare overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS).ResultsOf 251 patients, 189 (75.2%) underwent LND, and 72 (38%) had metastatic lymph nodes. A minimum of 6 lymph nodes were dissected in 67 patients (35.5%). Lymph node metastasis (LNM) was a risk factor with a high hazard ratio. There was no association between LND and OS after IPTW; however, LND may affect the DFS. Tumors in the LNM group were more malignant, and surgical trauma was greater in the LNM group.ConclusionsOnly a few LNDs meet the NCCN guidelines’ requirements. LND did not improve prognosis, with higher surgical trauma. The best approach for LND requires further discussion.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a nationwide lockdown was imposed in the United Kingdom (UK) on March 23, 2020. These sudden control measures led to radical changes in human activities in the Greater London Area (GLA). During this lockdown, transportation use was significantly reduced and non-key workers were required to work from home. This study aims to understand how population exposure to PM

Background: It remains controversial whether abnormal femoral version (FV) affects the outcomes of hip arthroscopic surgery for femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) or labral tears. Purpose: To review the outcomes of hip arthroscopic surgery for FAI or labral tears in patients with normal versus abnormal FV. Study Design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: Embase, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library were searched in July 2020 for studies reporting the outcomes after primary hip arthroscopic surgery for FAI or labral tears in patients with femoral retroversion (20°), or normal FV (5°-20°). The primary outcome was the modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), and secondary outcomes were the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, Hip Outcome Score–Sport-Specific Subscale (HOS-SSS), Non-Arthritic Hip Score (NAHS), failure rate, and patient satisfaction. The difference in preoperative and postoperative scores (Δ) was also calculated when applicable. Results: Included in this review were 5 studies with 822 patients who underwent hip arthroscopic surgery for FAI or labral tears; there were 166 patients with retroversion, 512 patients with normal version, and 144 patients with anteversion. Patients with retroversion and normal version had similar postoperative mHHS scores (mean difference [MD], 2.42 [95% confidence interval (CI), –3.42 to 8.26]; P = .42) and ΔmHHS scores (MD, –0.70 [96% CI, –8.56 to 7.15]; P = .86). Likewise, the patients with anteversion and normal version had similar postoperative mHHS scores (MD, –3.09 [95% CI, –7.66 to 1.48]; P = .18) and ΔmHHS scores (MD, –1.92 [95% CI, –6.18 to 2.34]; P = .38). Regarding secondary outcomes, patients with retroversion and anteversion had similar ΔNAHS scores, ΔHOS-SSS scores, ΔVAS scores, patient satisfaction, and failure rates to those with normal version, although a significant difference was found between the patients with retroversion and normal version regarding postoperative NAHS scores (MD, 5.96 [95% CI, 1.66-10.26]; P = .007) and postoperative HOS-SSS scores (MD, 7.32 [95% CI, 0.19-14.44]; P = .04). Conclusion: The results of this review indicated that abnormal FV did not significantly influence outcomes after hip arthroscopic surgery for FAI or labral tears.

Plants roots are colonised by soil bacteria that are known to be the reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). ARGs can transfer between these microorganisms and pathogens, but to what extent these ARGs and pathogens disseminate from soil into plant is poorly understood. Here, we examined a high-resolution resistome profile along the soil-root continuum of mangrove saplings using amplicon and metagenomic sequencing. Data revealed that 91.4% of total ARGs were shared across four root-associated compartments (endosphere, episphere, rhizosphere and unplanted soil). Rather than compartment-selective dynamics of microbiota, the resistome was disseminated in a continuous fashion along the soil-root continuum. Such dissemination was independent of underlying root-associated bacterial and fungal microbiota, but might be facilitated by a multiplicity of mobile genetic elements. As the multiple-drug resistant pathogens, Vibrio vulnificus, pathogenic Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae consistently predominated across four compartments, indicating the potential dissemination of antibiotic pathogens along the soil-root continuum. Through deciphering the profile and dynamics of the root-associated resistome and pathogens, our study identified the soil-root continuum as an interconnected sink through which certain ARGs and pathogens can flow from soil into the plant.

Exhaled jets from an infected person are found to be locked at a certain height when thermal stratification exists in rooms, causing a potential high risk of disease transmission. This work is focused on the theoretical analysis of the dynamic characteristics of human speech droplets and the residual droplet nuclei in both thermally uniform and stratified environments. Results show that most droplets generated from human speaking can totally evaporate or deposit to the ground within 1.5-2 m. For small droplets of 80μm, thermal stratification shows a more significant impact on their residues. The lock-up height of the droplet nuclei is a function of droplet size and the temperature gradient, and within this lock-up layer, these droplet nuclei can travel a long distance, much more than 2m. For medium droplets of 80-180 μm, thermal stratification can weaken the evaporation and accelerate the deposition processes, equivalent to a higher relative humidity (RH). Accordingly, more droplets can deposit to the ground, reducing the exposure to large droplets in close proximity to the source. Large droplets of 180μm show no dependence on stratification and RH. These findings can have implications for developing effective engineering methods to limit the spread of infectious disease.

Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) is commonly applied in spinal surgery to augment spinal fusion. Nevertheless, its pro-inflammatory potential could induce dangerous side effects such as vascular hyper-permeability, posing the need for manners against this condition. The present study aims to investigate the protective effect of Zanthoxylum nitidum (ZN) on BMP-2-related hyperpermeability and inflammation on the human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The results revealed that, in a concentration-dependent manner, BMP-2 enhanced the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor-α, which were, however, suppressed by ZN. ZN inhibited BMP-2-induced inflammatory response by suppressing the phosphorylation of NF-κBp65 and IκB, and the abnormal nuclear translocation of p65. Moreover, the inhibited expression intercellular tight junction protein VE-cadherin and Occludin caused by BMP-2 was blocked by ZN. The hyper-permeability of HUVECs induced by BMP-2, as expressed as the higher fluorescent intensity of dextran, was also reversed by ZN. Overall, these findings demonstrated that ZN antagonized BMP-2-induced inflammation and hyperpermeability. It could be a therapeutic candidate for the treatment of BMP-2-induced side effects during spinal fusion.

In data centers, a large number of IT sever racks with different heat dissipation rates are arranged in multiple rows, leading to much higher per-unit heat release and therefore more uneven temperature distribution than in general buildings. This paper chooses a small-scale data center located in China to analyze the thermal environment for the operation of these critical equipments. The wind speed and temperature in the data center were measured, and a corresponding computer room model was established via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation software. Based on it, the characteristics of flow field and temperature field of the data center were analyzed. The optimization methods for problem of uneven temperature distribution and chaotic air supply in the data center were proposed and verified by evaluation index. Furthermore, the return temperature index(RHI) increased from 0.918 to 0.93, the return heat index(RTI) reduced from 0.222 to 0.342.

To capture complex physical processes in cities with high degree of heterogeneity, sophisticated urban land surface models (ULSMs) are used with various anthropogenic activities considered. These ULSMs can be used either offline, using atmospheric measurements as forcing inputs, or online, coupled with large-scale climate models. One downside of using ULSMs in offline mode is that most of atmospheric measurements in cities are spatially limited (e.g. a few points or sites) preventing the physical processes across extremely diverse or heterogeneous conditions in cities from being studied in their entire complexity. Coupling ULSMs with meso-scale models helps us study two-way interactions between the urban surface and atmosphere, and provides spatio-temporal information about the effect of urban climate on various city-related environmental issues such as the urban heat island and urban stormwater.Here we couple and evaluate state-of-the-art surface urban energy and water scheme (SUEWS) with the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model. The coupled system (WRF-SUEWS) is evaluated in two UK cities: London (dense urban) and Swindon (suburban) for four two-week periods in each season. In general, WRF-SUEWS models the surface energy balance fluxes well in both cities across all periods. One strength of the coupled system is the ability to model the spatial and temporal distribution of anthropogenic heat in urban areas. We study how the difference between the anthropogenic heat flux of residential and commercial areas affects the energy balance as well as atmospheric variables over these areas.

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies, and it’s expected that the CRC burden will substantially increase in the next two decades. New biomarkers for targeted treatment and associated molecular mechanism of tumorigenesis remain to be explored. In this study, we investigated whether PDCD6 plays an oncogenic role in colorectal cancer and its underlying mechanism. Methods Programmed cell death protein 6 (PDCD6) expression in CRC samples were analyzed by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. The prognosis between PDCD6 and clinical features were analyzed. The roles of PDCD6 in cellular proliferation and tumor growth were measured by using CCK8, colony formation, and tumor xenograft in nude mice. RNA-sequence (RNA-seq), Mass Spectrum (MS), Co-Immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and Western blot were utilized to investigate the mechanism of tumor progression. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) were performed to determine the correlation of PDCD6 and MAPK pathway. Results Higher expression levels of PDCD6 in tumor tissues were associated with a poorer prognosis in patients with CRC. Furthermore, PDCD6 increased cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, RNA-seq showed that PDCD6 could affect the activation of the MAPK signaling pathway. PDCD6 interacted with c-Raf, resulting in the activation of downstream c-Raf/MEK/ERK pathway and the upregulation of core cell proliferation genes such as MYC and JUN. Conclusions These findings reveal the oncogenic effect of PDCD6 in CRC by activating c-Raf/MEK/ERK pathway and indicate that PDCD6 might be a potential prognostic indicator and therapeutic target for patients with colorectal cancer.

Bladder urothelial carcinoma (BC) has been identified as one of the most common malignant neoplasm worldwide. High-grade bladder urothelial carcinoma (HGBC) is aggressive with a high risk of recurrence, progression, metastasis, and poor prognosis. Therefore, HGBC clinical management is still a challenge. We performed the present study to seek new urine biomarkers for HGBC and investigate how they promote HGBC progression and thus affect the prognosis based on large-scale sequencing data. We identified the overlapped differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by combining GSE68020 and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets. Subsequent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves, and Cox regression were conducted to test the diagnostic and prognostic role of the hub genes. Chi-square test and logistic regression were carried out to analyze the associations between clinicopathologic characteristics and the hub genes. Ultimately, we performed gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks, and Bayesian networks (BNs) to explore the underlying mechanisms by which ECM1, CRYAB, CGNL1, and GPX3 are involved in tumor progression. Immunohistochemistry based on The Human Protein Atlas and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction based on urine samples confirmed the downregulation and diagnostic values of the hub genes in HGBC. In conclusion, our study indicated that CRYAB, CGNL1, ECM1, and GPX3 are potential urine biomarkers of HGBC. These four novel urine biomarkers will have attractive applications to provide new diagnostic methods, prognostic predictors and treatment targets for HGBC, which could improve the prognosis of HGBC patients, if validated by further experiments and larger prospective clinical trials.

Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma (SHC) is a rare subtype of liver cancer with extremely poor prognosis. This study aimed to identify the prognostic factors and develop an exclusive and efficient nomogram to predict cancer-specific survival (CSS) for SHC. The data on patients diagnosed with SHC from January 1973 to December 2015 were retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, and these patients were included as the training cohort. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to identify the prognostic risk factors and construct a nomogram. The predictive accuracy and discriminative ability of the nomogram were determined using concordance index (C-index), calibration curve, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Decision curve analysis (DCA) was used to compare the clinical benefits of the prognostic evaluation model (PEM) with that of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system. The results were validated with an external validation cohort. In total, 116 patients with SHC were included in the training cohort. Multivariate Cox analysis revealed M stage (distant metastasis), primary tumor surgery, and chemotherapy to be associated with CSS, and along with tumor size, an integrated PEM was constructed. A calibration curve for the probability of survival showed good agreement between the nomogram and actual observation. The C-index value of the nomogram for predicting CSS and AJCC was 0.853 and 0.649, respectively. In the validation cohort, the C-index value of the PEM discrimination was better than that of the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system, CLIP score, and Okuda staging system, and no statistical difference was observed with eighth edition of the AJCC staging system and Izumi staging system. The proposed four-factor nomogram of PEM could accurately predict the prognosis of SHC and could be used in clinical practice.

Shida Yan,1,* Yingyi Wang,2,* Xiao Chen,1,* Yefan Zhang,1 Zhen Huang,1 Jianjun Zhao,1 Jianguo Zhou,1 Zhiyu Li,1 Xinyu Bi,1 Zhiwen Luo,1 Jianqiang Cai,1 Hong Zhao1 1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Medical Oncology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jianqiang Cai; Hong ZhaoDepartment of Hepatobiliary Surgery, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, No. 17 Panjiayuan Nanli, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100021, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail caijianqiang188@sina.com; zhaohong@cicams.ac.cnPurpose: This study aimed to investigate the clinicopathological features and prognosis of gallbladder neuroendocrine carcinoma (GB-NEC).Patients and Methods: Fifteen patients with GB-NEC and 171 patients with gallbladder adenocarcinoma (GB-ADC) treated in two tertiary medical centers between 2009 and 2015 were included. The clinicopathological features and prognostic risk factors of GB-NEC were analyzed retrospectively. A propensity score matching in a 1:2 ratio was used to compare the prognosis of GB-NEC and GB-ADC.Results: For patients with GB-NEC, the median age of patients was 58.4 years (range 26– 75), with a M:F ratio of 7:8. Based on 2010 WHO classification, ten cases were pathologically confirmed as NECs and five cases as MANECs. For TNM staging, eleven patients were stage III or above; while for Nevin staging, seven patients were stage IV or above. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year overall survival (OS) of GB-NEC were 60.0%, 38.8% and 31.1%, respectively, and the median survival time was 20.4 months. Patients with lymph node metastasis had significantly shorter survival than those without (OS: 10.4 vs 26.0 months, p< 0.05). Accordingly, patients of Nevin stage III had better OS than those of Nevin stage IV (p< 0.05), but other potential risk factors including gender, age, clinical symptoms, TNM stage, histopathologic subtype and treatment showed no significance. After the propensity score matching, the baseline variables had no significant difference between 15 patients with GB-NEC and 30 patients with GB-ADC, survival analysis showed GB-NEC had worse prognosis (3-year overall survival rate: 31.1% vs 63.8%, p< 0.01).Conclusion: Nevin staging helps classify patients of GB-NEC with different prognosis and the lymph node metastasis is a strong negative prognostic factor for OS. The propensity score analysis revealed even with the similar stage and treatment, GB-NEC still had worse OS than GB-ADC.Keywords: gallbladder, neuroendocrine carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, survival, propensity score matching

Deep street canyons and unfavourable meteorological conditions usually induce high pollutant exposure. Validated by experimental data, this paper employs computational fluid dynamic simulations with RNG k-e model to investigate the flow, and passive pollutant dispersion within scale-model two-dimensional street canyons(H = 3 m). As a novelty, this paper quantifies the impacts of various wall heating scenarios(bottom, leeward/windward wall and all-wall heating), ambient velocity(Uref = 0.5–2 m s−1, Froude numbers Fr = 0.25–4.08, Reynolds numbers Re = 95602–382409) and aspect ratios(building height/street width, AR = 0.5, 0.67, 1, 2, 3) on personal intake fraction for entire streets( ). The governing equations are implicitly discretized by a finite volume method (FVM) and the second-order upwind scheme with Boussinesq model for quantifying buoyancy effects. The SIMPLE scheme is adopted for the pressure and velocity coupling. In most isothermal cases, one-main-vortex structure exists as AR = 0.5–3( = 0.43–3.96 ppm and 1.66–27.51 ppm with Uref = 2 and 0.5 m s−1). For non-isothermal cases with Fr = 4.08(Uref = 2 m s−1), wind-driven force dominates urban airflow as AR = 0.5–1 and four heating conditions attain similar (0.39–0.43 ppm, 0.57–0.60 ppm, 0.91–0.98 ppm). As AR = 2, windward and all-wall heating get two-vortex structures with greater (3.18–3.33 ppm) than others( = 2.13–2.21 ppm). As AR = 3, leeward-wall heating slightly reduces (~3.72–3.96 ppm), but the other three produce two-vortex structures with greater (6.13–10.32 ppm). As Fr = 0.25(Uref = 0.5 m s−1), leeward-wall heating always attains smaller (1.20–7.10 ppm) than isothermal cases(1.66–27.51 ppm) as AR = 0.5–3, however the influence of the other three is complicated which sometimes raises or reduces . Overall, smaller background wind speed (Fr = 0.25) with two-vortex structures attains much larger . Special attention is required at night(all-wall heating), noon(bottom-heating) and cloudy period(no-wall heating) as AR = 2–3, while it is during windward-wall heating and cloudy period for AR = 0.5–1.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. The PDCD6 expression in different patient samples from the GEPIA database of different kinds of diseases. Figure S2a. PDCD6-KD and c-Raf-KD inhibited the MAPK pathway. Figure S2b. Combined downregulation of PDCD6 with oxiliplatin effect on cell proliferation in HCT116 and HCT15. Figure S2c. Cell proliferation assays on RAF709 and Trametinib treatment. Figure S2d. Colony formation assays on RAF709 and Trametinib treatment. Figure S3a. Representative immunohistochemistry images of the expression of p-c-Raf, p-MEK, c-Caspase 3 and p-Stat 3 in xenograft tumors from nude mice subcutaneously injected with HCT116 cells. *, P < 0.05. Figure S3b. HE staining showed the influences of PDCD6-KD and PDCD6-OE on mice tumor samples. Table S1. Characteristics of 93 patients with colorectal cancer included in the study. Table S2. For the knockdown of human PDCD6-specific shRNAs. Table S3. For the knockdown of human PDCD6-siRNA and c-Raf-siRNA. Table S4. Oligonucleotide sequences used in reverse-transcription PCR and real-time PCR.

Background: Recurrence of metastatic colorectal cancers (mCRCs) after surgery is still a challenge. But mCRCs' outcomes are heterogeneous, and no clinicopathological methods can predict its recurrence and guide postoperative treatment from an intrinsic cell activities and extrinsic immune microenvironment perspective. We aimed to identify such gene models. Methods: Gene expression analysis on CRCs. Based on metastasis-related genes, a metastatic evaluation model (MEM) was developed, dividing mCRCs into high and low recurrence risk clusters. Machine learning tested MEM's importance to predict recurrence. Further investigating MEM's two clusters made an immune prognostic model (IPM) with immune genes differentially expressed between MEM clusters. The predictive performance of MEM and IPM on prognosis was comprehensively analyzed and validated. The mechanism of IPM on the immune microenvironment and response to immuno/chemotherapy was analyzed extensively. Results: RNA data of 998 CRCs were analyzed. High postoperative recurrence risk in mCRCs was owing to immune response’s down-regulation, which was influenced by 3 MEM genes ( BAMBI, F13A1, LCN2 ) and their related 3 IPM genes ( SLIT2, CDKN2A, CLU ). MEM and IPM were developed and validated on 239 mCRCs to differentiate a low and high recurrence risk (AUCs > 0.65). Functional enrichment analysis showed immune response and immune system diseases pathway represented the major function and pathway related to IPM gene. IPM high-risk group (IPM-high) had higher fractions of Tregs ( P = 0.04), lower fractions of resisting memory CD4+ T cells ( P = 0.02) than IPM-low. And stroma and immune cells in IPM-high samples were scant ( P = 0.0002, 0.001, respectively). In IPM-high, MHC class II molecules all down-expressed, and DNA methylation disordered. TIDE algorithm and GDSC analysis discovered IPM-low was more promising to respond to both anti-CTLA4 therapy ( P = 0.005) and common FDA targeted drugs ( P < 0.05), while IPM-high had nonresponse to both of them. But anti-CDKN2A agent with activation of MHC class II response might reverse the dilemma of this refractory mCRCs subgroup. Conclusions: Postoperative recurrence of mCRC is strongly related to immune microenvironment. Our two relative gene models could identify subgroups of mCRC with different recurrence risk, and stratify mCRCs sensitive to immune/chemotherapy, even highlight the ignored importance of MHC class II molecules on immunotherapy in mCRCs for the first time. Funding Statement: This work was supported by Capital’s Funds for Health Improvement and Research [grant number 2018-1-4021]. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: Not required.

Exposure to PM2.5 has been associated with increased mortality in urban areas. Hence, reducing the uncertainty in human exposure assessments is essential for more accurate health burden estimates. Here, we quantified the misclassification that occurred when using different exposure approaches to predict the mortality burden of a population using London as a case study. We developed a framework for quantifying the misclassification of the total mortality burden attributable to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in four major microenvironments (MEs) (dwellings, aboveground transportation, London Underground (LU) and outdoors) in the Greater London Area (GLA), in 2017. We demonstrated that differences exist between five different exposure Tier-models with incrementally increasing complexity, moving from static to more dynamic approaches. BenMap-CE, the open source software developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was used as a tool to achieve spatial distribution of the ambient concentration by interpolating the monitoring data to the unmonitored areas and ultimately estimating the change in mortality on a fine resolution. Indoor exposure to PM2.5 is the largest contributor to total population exposure concentration, accounting for 83% of total predicted population exposure, followed by the London Underground, which contributes approximately 15%, despite the average time spent there by Londoners being only 0.4%. After incorporating housing stock and time-activity data, moving from static to most dynamic metric, Inner London showed the highest reduction in exposure concentration (i.e., approximately 37%) and as a result the largest change in mortality (i.e., health burden/mortality misclassification) was observed in central GLA. Overall, our findings showed that using outdoor concentration as a surrogate for total population exposure but ignoring different exposure concentration that occur indoors and time spent in transit, led to a misclassification of 1174–1541 mean predicted mortalities in GLA. We generally confirm that increasing the complexity and incorporating important microenvironments, such as the highly polluted LU, could significantly reduce the misclassification of health burden assessments.

This article investigates the influence of the thermal performance of building envelopes on annual energy consumption in a ground-buried office building by means of the DeST-based dynamic building energy simulation, aiming at offering reasonable guidelines for the energy efficient design of the envelopes of underground office buildings for various climatic zones in China. In this study, the accuracy of dealing with the thermal process adopted for underground buildings by using DeST is validated by measured data. The analysed results show that the annual energy consumptions for this type of buildings vary significantly, and it is based on the value of the overall heat transfer coefficient (U-value) of the envelopes. Thus, it is necessary to optimize the U-value for underground office buildings located in various climatic zones in China. With respect to the roof, an improvement in its thermal performance is significantly beneficial to the building in terms of annual energy demand. With respect to the external walls, the optimized U-values completely change with the distribution of the climate zones. The recommended optimal values for various climate zones of China are also specified as design references for this type of underground buildings in terms of the building energy efficiency.

Currently, no clear standards exist for determining urban building natural ventilation rates, especially under varying realistic meteorological conditions. In this study, ventilation rates are determined using tracer gas decay and pressure-based measurements for a full-scale (6 m tall) cube. The cube was either isolated (2 months of observations) or sheltered within a staggered array (7 months), for both single-sided and cross ventilation (openings 0.4 m × 1 m). Wind speeds at cube height ranged between 0.04 m s−1 and 13.1 m s−1. Errors for both ventilation methods are carefully assessed. There is no discernible linear relation between normalised ventilation rates from the two methods, except for cross ventilation in the array case. The ratio of tracer gas and pressure derived ventilation rates is assessed with wind direction. For single-sided (leeward opening) cases it approached 1. For cross ventilation the ratio was closer to 1 but with more scatter. One explanation is that agreement is better when internal mixing is less jet-dominated, i.e. for oblique directions in the isolated case and for all directions for unsteady array flows. Sheltering may reduce the flushing rate of the tracer gas from the cube relative to internal mixing rate. This new dataset provides an extensive range of conditions for numerical model evaluation and for understanding uncertainty of ventilation rates. Knowledge of the latter is critical in building design.

GaN devices used to drive a three-phase inverter drive motor can greatly improve the switching frequency and increase the power density. However, the traditional microcontroller unit (MCU) controller cannot achieve high switching frequency single-cycle control. This paper describes the use of GaN devices in the design of a three-phase motor drive system to drive a permanent magnet synchronous motor and vector control algorithm, that is completely implemented in a field programmable gate array. The system achieves 200-kHz switching frequency single-cycle precise control, as verified by the experimental results.

Levofloxacin (LVFX) is a fluoroquinolone antibacterial agent and widely used in the treatment of bacterial infections. However, the abuse of LVFX will do great harm to human being, and alkaline urine (pH > 7.0) with decreased solubility of LVFX will further cause adverse side effects. There is an urgent demand and great challenge to construct a mutlifunctional nano-system for the detection of LVFX and pH. We report a novel water-dispersible europium (Eu)-grafted covalent organic framework nanoplates (Eu@CON) with luminescent characteristics of Eu3+. Eu@CON shows high selective and sensitive luminescence sensing for LVFX with a limit of detection (LOD) at 0.51 μM. A visual test strip has been further designed and fabricated for on-site and rapid pH measurement with a detection range from 1 to 4 and 11 to 14. This proof-of-concept study not only reports a new type of luminescent LVFX and pH sensor, but also provides a promising strategy for the design of water-dispersible lanthanide-grafted luminescent CONs to further extends its application in chemo-biosensing.

There is an increasing incidence of overheating in subway tunnels in recent years especially in old subways without air-conditioning e.g., London Underground. There is still lack of a clear understanding how tunnel-air temperature is determined by the complex thermal processes in subway tunnels. In this study, a mathematical model that describes the thermal processes in deeply buried subway tunnels was developed. Analytical solution was derived by separating the solution into time-averaged component and periodic component. The results show that the time-averaged component of tunnel-air temperature will approach steady state as the time tends to infinity, which has a positive linear relation with internal heat-source and average ambient temperature. Active cooling or heat-recovery systems could soon become a necessity in subway tunnels due to both global warming and increasing internal heat generation. Compared with outdoor air, the amplitude of the tunnel-air temperature shows a significant reduction in the day period but not in the year period. The surrounding soil temperature will keep changing for thousands of years. This study offers a new physical insight to analyse and mitigate overheating in subway tunnels.

Natural red 25 is investigated by FT-IR, UV–Vis spectrum, current-voltage characteristics under different pH values. The molecular geometry and frontier molecular orbitals are calculated using the Hartree-Fock (HF) and density functional theory (DFT) with 6-31G(d) basis set. Applying the TD-DFT method, the absorption spectrum is simulated in gas phase and ethanol solvent, and the calculated results are compared with the experimental data for Natural red 25. The dipole moment ( μ ), ionization energy (I), electron affinity (A), electronegativity (χ), hardness (η), softness (S), electrophilicity index (φ) and total molecular energies (E TOTAL ) of Natural red 25 are calculated via HF/6-31G(d) and DFT/6-31G(d) methods, which are all correlated with the HOMO and LUMO energies. In addition, photoelectric properties of 5-Aminofluorescein and 6-Aminofluorescein are measured and calculated, which have same molecular formula (C 20 H 13 NO 5 ) except for the CN group at two different positions. The results show that the open circuit voltage ( V oc = 0.60 V), short circuit density ( J sc = 1.39 mA/cm 2 ) and photo-to-electric conversion efficiency (η = 0.54%) of 5-Aminofluorescein are higher than those of 6-Aminofluorescein ( V oc of 0.58 V, J sc of 1.22 mA/cm 2 , η of 0.49), meaning that the 5-Aminofluorescein display a well performance.

Despite building energy use being one of the largest global energy consumers, building energy simulations rarely take the actual local neighbourhood scale climate into account. A new globally applicable approach is proposed to support buildings energy design. ERA5 (European Centre Reanalysis version 5) data are used with SUEWS (Surface Urban Energy and Water balance Scheme) to obtain (in this example case) an urban typical meteorological year (uTMY) that is usable in building energy modelling. The predicted annual energy demand (heating and cooling) for a representative four-storey London residential apartment using uTMY is 6.9% less (cf. conventional TMY). New vertical profile coefficients for wind speed and air temperature in EnergyPlus are derived using SUEWS. EneryPlus simulations with these neighbourhood scale coefficients and uTMY data, predict the top two floors have ~10% larger energy demand (cf. the open terrain coefficients with uTMY data). Vertical variations in wind speed have a greater impact on the simulated building energy than equivalent variations in temperature. This globally appliable approach can provide local meteorological data for building energy modelling, improving design for the local context through characterising the surrounding neighbourhood.

Luo, Z., Yuan, X, Chen, X., & Cui, X. (March-April, 2017). Phytoextraction potential of wetland plants for Copper in Water Bodies. Water Technology and Sciences (in Spanish), 8(2), 43-50. Copper is the most common heavy metal contaminant in the environment. Wetland construction engineering and technology have been used to control water pollution due to their low cost and efficiency and the hydrophytes have been the most important constituents of wetland construction. In this experiment, during April of 2014, Cu2+ accumulation content in different parts of Acorus calamus and Phragmites australis were investigated based on hydroponic experiments of different Cu2+ concentration solutions. Cu2+ concentrations in the water body were 0, 10, 25, 60, 100, 200 and 500 mg/l, respectively. The results showed that there were significant Cu2+ concentration differences between the above- and below-ground parts of Acorus calamus and Phragmites australis. Cu2+ content in the above- and belowground parts of wetland plants increased with hydroponic solution Cu2+ concentrations, resulting in a significantly positive correlation between Cu2+ content and concentrations of hydroponic solutions. There was a significant difference in Cu2+ content in the wetland plants under all hydroponic solution Cu2+ concentrations. Acorus calamus exhibited the greatest Cu2+ accumulation in above- and below-ground parts. Acorus calamus and Phragmites australis can be selected for application on the phytoremediation of water polluted by heavy metals due to their excellent Cu2+ accumulation ability.

The role of fluids in the formation of the Permian-aged Xigedan and Mandula gabbroic intrusions in western Inner Mongolia was significant to the evolution of the Xing’an Mongolia Orogenic Belt (XMOB), and the active northern margin of the North China Craton (NCC). Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) U-Pb zircon geochronology establishes that the Xigedan gabbroic intrusion in the northern NCC was emplaced at 266 Ma, and is therefore slightly younger than the ca 280 Ma Mandula gabbroic intrusion in the XMOB. Along with their felsic counterparts, the mafic igneous intrusions record extensive bimodal magmatism along the northern NCC and in the XMOB during the Early to Middle Permian. The Mandula gabbroic rocks have low initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios (0.7040–0.7043) and positive eNd(t) (+6.2 to +7.3) and eHf(t) values (+13.4 to +14.5), resembling to those of contemporaneous Mandula basalts. These features, together with the presence of amphibole and the enrichment of large ion lithophile elements (LILE, e.g., Rb, Ba, U and Sr) and depletion of Nb-Ta suggest that the parental magmas of the Mandula mafic igneous rocks were derived from a depleted mantle source metasomatized by water-rich fluids. In contrast, the Xigedan gabbroic rocks are characterised by high 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios (0.7078–0.7080) and zircon δ 18 O values (5.84–6.61‰), but low eNd(t) (−9.3 to −10.2) and eHf(t) values (−8.76 to −8.54), indicative of a long-term enriched subcontinental lithosphere mantle source that was metasomatized by recycled, high δ 18 O crustal materials prior to partial melting. The high water contents (4.6–6.9 wt%) and arc-like geochemical signature (enrichment of fluid-mobile elements and depletion of Nb-Ta) of the parental magmas of the Xigedan gabbroic rocks further establish the existence of a mantle hydration event caused by fluid/melts released from hydrated recycled oceanic crust. Incompatible element modelling shows that 5–10% partial melting of an enriched mantle source by adding respectively 0.5% and 2% sediment melts and fluids, could have produced the parental magmas of the Xigedan gabbroic rocks. A range of geological evidence establishes an intracontinental origin for Late Paleozoic mafic igneous rocks along the northern NCC and in the XMOB, rather than a subduction-related setting. We therefore propose a deep-Earth water cycling process to account for mantle hydration and subsequent Late Paleozoic magmatism, supporting a geodynamic link between deep-Earth water cycling, and intracontinental magmatism and lithospheric extension.

Hospital buildings in the UK are at particular risk to rising summer temperatures associated with climate change. Balancing the thermal needs of patients, staff, and visitors is a challenging, complex endeavour. A case study of the ultrasound area of the Royal Berkshire Hospital&rsquo, s Maternity and Gynaecology building is presented, where temperatures were measured for 35 days in waiting areas, staff offices, and ultrasound scanning rooms, aiming to assess the overheating risk posed to occupants. Local external temperature measurements were used for comparison whereby determining the indoor-outdoor environmental connection. Results show that most rooms had already breached standard overheating thresholds within the study period. Anthropogenic and waste heat from equipment has a noticeable effect on indoor temperatures. Local air-conditioning helped reduce the peaks in temperature seen between 14:00 and 17:00 for similar scanning rooms but is in contradiction to the National Health Service&rsquo, s sustainability plans. Several low-level solutions such as improved signage, access to water, and the allocation of vulnerable patients to morning clinics are suggested. Barriers to solutions are also discussed and the requirement of sufficient maintenance plans for cooling equipment is empathised. These solutions are likely to be applicable to other hospital buildings experiencing similar conditions.

In this paper, a stabilized second order in time accurate linear exponential time differencing (ETD) scheme for the no-slope-selection thin film growth model is presented. An artificial stabilizing term $ A{\tau }^2\frac{\mathrm{\partial }{\Delta }^2u}{\mathrm{\partial }t}$ is added to the physical model to achieve energy stability, with ETD-based multi-step approximations and Fourier collocation spectral method applied in the time integral and spatial discretization of the evolution equation, respectively. Long time energy stability and detailed 𝓁∞(0,T;𝓁2) error analysis are provided based on the energy method, with a careful estimate of the aliasing error. In addition, numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the energy decay and convergence rate.